Dear Ferret Folks- I have had a few folks who went to the Portland Convention E-mail me and let me know (nicely) that they were disappointed not to have seen me there. Yes, I was scheduled to have been there originally. I was very happy when I was invited by the IFC! I was looking forward to meeting folks I only knew via computer. I canceled my invitation about six weeks back, and that didn't get much press, so people were surprised when they got there and I wasn't there as expected. As some of you know I am Manic Depressive.(The trendy term for this is 'Bipolar'.) I'm not ashamed of it, but I doesn't come up much in my regular FML posting. Every now and then I just plain have a bad patch, usually in the spring or fall, when the length of the days is changing quickly. This spring was not a good one for me. It got to the point where the IFC ladies needed me to give them my travel dates, and I just wasn't sure I was going to be up for the trip. The responsible thing to do was to cancel at that point, so I did. I am sorry to have disappointed folks, but sometimes this illness forces me to make some hard and fast decisions like this one. After three med changes (UGGH! I could write a BOOK!) I am back to where I should be. Sad at having missed you, but hoping to meet everybody at another Convention in the future. Many thank-you's to Linda Iroff and Julie Fossa and Renee Downs for being so understanding and supportive in heavy weather. Alexandra in MA [Posted in FML 5651]